Dateline: June 14th, 1993. The WWF Landscape that was once ruled by the archaic era of Hulkamania has seen a major shift in its direction. Due to the victory by Yokozuna at the King of the Ring, the world no longer revolves around Hulk Hogan as Hulk Hogan has decided to finally leave the company he helped put on the map. With the Hulkster gone, and the xenophobic WWF under the heavy grip of the Japanese terror, who will step up to lead America back to victory? Who will be our hero?
After a recap of the victory of Yokozuna the night prior, we're taken to an exclusive interview after the King of the Ring PPV, where Mr. Fuji tells us more about this planned ceremony that he and Yoko plan to hold in America. It will of course be on July 4th, independence day. Where this will take place hasn't been announced, but Fuji ensures that it will be a historic U.S landmark.
We kick the show off with Mr. Perfect in action against L.A Gore. Vince brings up the history of upsets here in the Manhattan Center, but I have no hopes for mr. Gore. Headlock by Perfect is thrown off, but Perfect gets a shoulder block and a dropkick. Gore take Perfect to the corner and tries some chops, but Perfect turns it around for some stiff, loud chops. He follows it up with his patented neck snap. Knee lift by Perfect and more chops by Perfect. Gore whips Perfect, but it's turned into the Perfectplex for a quick three. Not a bad squash, but for Mr. Perfect it really was nothing impressive.
Vince is in the ring with Razor Ramon. Razor is carrying a sack of money not unlike a cartoon burglar. Vince reminds us that despite the ante constantly being upped by Razor, the 1-2-3 Kid still will not accept his offer. The crowd chants "123"to annoy Razor, but his focus in intent. He has now upped the offer to ten thousand dollars, and if the kid really wants to help his family, then he should finally accept his offer. Vince asks what will happen if the Kid should luck out for a second time, but Razor is confident that the upset was nothing more than a fluke.
Up next is Doink the Clown vs Marty Jannetty. The night prior, the double Doinks partook in some stogies on the way to the ring, and tonight Doink is enjoying a Pepsi as he once again goes under the ring apron. He emerges from the other side and squirts the announcers with the old "squirting pop can" trick. Still nowhere as epic as the box of nothing. Vince assumes that this is a different Doink due to an added jacket when he exited. What if the jacket was under the ring?
Marty tries to drag Doink out of the ring, but gets a boot to the head. Clubbing shots by Doink. Whip in the corner is countered by Jannetty who gets a rather sloppy bulldog of the top rope. He then locks in an arm bar. The crowd appears to be pro-Doink despite him still being a full heel at this point. A shoulder block by Doink sends Marty flying out of the ring. He tries to ram him into the turnbuckle, but Marty gets back in and trips the clown. He locks him in a headlock as we go to break.
When we return Marty gets a dropkick and another armbar while the announcers are concerned about the double clownery. Marty ascends the top rope and gets a cross body for two. Doink comes back with a big powerslam on Marty and sets up a crossface chicken wing. He follows it up with a back suplex. Doink's face paint is so sloppy tonight that it's completely covered on Marty. He reapplies the arm lock as Marty tries to come back.
Body slam by Doink as he goes up top for the seated senton. He takes a while for the cover, but Marty kicks out. He applies a nice neckbreaker for a two count. He hits an axe handle off the top rope, and goes for another, but Marty throws him off this time. Marty tries to recover with shows to the guts and a elbow to the face. Another nice dropkick is met with a suplex for a two count.
Clothesline only gets a two count. Doink whips Marty, but gets his face slammed into the mat. Doink tries to lift Marty, but both men fall out of the ring. They brawl on the outside as Marty superkicks Doink. Both me are counted out, but the brawl ensues. Marty lands a cross body off the apron and continues to pound on the worn out clown. Doink tries to get back in, but the referees put a stop to him and send him off.
Overall, this was an okay match. A bit slow, but I like both Marty and Doink, and they definitely put in some effort in this match. I definitely can't wait to see them in action again. And by the sound of things, this will be far from the last.
Up next is Owen Hart in action on Raw for the first time in several months against Dan Dubiel. Meanwhile Vince is trying to get a hold of the 1-2-3 Kid who is in Japan. Arm wringers and chops by Owen as they finally get the kid on the line. As Owen wears the elbow The Kid talks about how well things are going for his career since he won over Razor the last few weeks. He just sounds like he's bored for the most part, and honestly ol' X-Pac has never been much of a talker. Owen gets a body slam on Dubiel followed by a back body drop before focusing on the arm. On the line, the Kid finally accepts the challenge of Razor Ramon to a match next week. Owen works the arm some more, and soon gets a spinning heel kick. He goes up top and hits a beautiful missile dropkick off the top rope. He follows with a northern lights suplex for the three. I love Owen Hart, but this match was the nothingest of nothing matches.
When we return from break, we're reminded of the attack on Superstars to the Undertaker and Paul Bearer by Giant Gonzalez and Mr. Hughes. Because of the incident, Paul Bearer's gone, and Harvey Whippleman now has the the urn. I mentioned how the Lawler/Bret feud will take up the majority of the next couple years, as will the game of grab ass with the Undertaker's urn. We go back to Superstars for the entire match between the Undertaker and P.J Walker from the previous week, I'll skim through this quick since it's info we were already made privy to back at the pay per view. Undertaker won over Walker quick, and the Giant Gonzalez attacked the Undertaker. Mr. Hughes then interfered and attacked Paul Bearer before corking Taker hard with the urn, leaving the dead man beaten and battered.
Our main event for the evening is Jerry "The King" Lawler against Mark Thomas. They make note that Lawler is wearing pink and black as a clear insult to Bret Hart. Lawler insults the crowd and tells them to kiss his feet. He's still unhappy with the burger king chants. The Burger King chants are apparently so bad that Bobby Heenan chose to walk off in protest.
Lawler finally enters the ring, but the "burger king" chants continue to infuriate him. He points at the Macho Man, blaming him for a lot of this. He enters the ring and takes down Thomas, following up with some fist drops. He rams Thomas face first into the buckle and puts in more fists. Bobby Heenan's sit down protest lasted all of two minutes as he returns with some big news. He tells the commentators that Mr. Fuji's celebration will feature a challenge from Yokozuna to see if anyone can slam him to prove how weak America truly is.
Back body drop from Lawler is followed by a choke with his boot and a knee drop. The Burger King chants get to Lawler some more, which allows Thomas enough time to hit a back body drop. But a second attempt is met with an elbow to the head and a piledriver. Lawler drops one more fist for the three in an easy squash.
We end the show with Vince shilling Raw in Poughkeepsie next week with the headlining match being Doink vs Marty Jannetty in a 2 out of three falls match, and the rematch between the 1-2-3 Kid and Razor Ramon. Sounds like a better show next week than this week
And that's not to say that this was a bad Raw, just an average squash edition. Marty and Doink was fine, but the squash matches, even with the likes of Mr. Perfect and Owen Hart were just there and nothing overly impressive. But I like the focuses on hot story lines and this slow build to the 4th of July challenge that is slowly coming up. But for this show overall, I give it a B-.